conscription

Forms

conscription f (plural conscriptions)^[1]

Etymology

In form it is borrowed from Latin cōnscrīptiō (“a drawing up in writing, record”), but its sense comes from conscrit.^[2][1][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF take it from Late Latin, where the word had come to mean enrolment.^[4][5] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of cōnscrībō (“to enrol”),^[5] from com- and scrībō (“to write”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in 1789, as conscription militaire, in an article by Lacuée in the Encyclopédie méthodique, for the enrolment of young men for military service.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into being with the system it named: established in an early form by the Constituent Assembly in 1789, conscription was instituted under the Directory in 1798 by the Jourdan law, and in the 19th century most European countries adopted it.^[3] Rey sees it as the replacement of the soldier bound to his sovereign by the citizen soldier, issued from the Nation.^[3] The term applies above all to the levies of the Directory, the Consulate and the First Empire.^[5] Littré gives the phrases tomber à la conscription, of a man whose number put him in the levy, and échapper à la conscription.^[7] In France conscription was abolished in 2002.^[8]

Littré quotes Ambroise Paré in the 16th century using conscription in an unrelated sense, the bony covering of an aneurysm.^[7] English conscription, from Latin, meant a written record from the late 14th century; its sense of compulsory enrolment for military service (1800) goes back to the French act of 5 September 1798.^[6]

Timeline

• 1789 – Conscription militaire appears in Lacuée's article in the Encyclopédie méthodique.^[2]
• 1798 – The Jourdan law institutes conscription under the Directory.^[3]
• 1800 – English conscription takes the sense of compulsory enrolment.^[6]
• 2002 – Conscription is abolished in France.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (administration) The entering of young men who reach the legal age on the army rolls for military service; conscription, the draft: armée de conscription as opposed to armée de métier.^[8][9][2]
2. (dated, historical) The annual levy of young men liable for military service, especially the system of the Directory and the Empire, in which lots chose the conscripts.^[2][10][5]

Related words

• conscrit
• Latin cōnscrīptiō
• English conscription

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)